Tuesday - 10/13 G&S - What's the news? Activity - "Ghost Spelling" The goal is to make words as a group - the longer the better. Each student contributes a letter to make a word. When a word is completed, write a letter from the word "ghost" on the board. When 5 words have been completed successfully, "ghost" should be spelled out on the board and the activity is complete.
Wednesday - 10/14 G - Knock, Knock Who's there? Student 1: Knock Knock! Student 2: Who's There? Student 1: Name (Olivia) Student 2: Name Who? (Olivia Who?) Student 1: First and Last Name (Olivia Flynn) Student 2: Good morning Olivia Flynn! This continues around the circle until everyone has been greeted. Share - What do you want to be when you grow up? Activity - Silent line up - hand out index cards with math facts on the them (i.e. 8x6, 4x5, etc.). Have them line up in order from least to greatest or greatest to least without talking
Thursday - 10/15 Greeting: Who's Next: Before morning meeting have students write their name on an index card. Shuffle and place in the middle. Turn the first one over and have that child start the greeting. They will greet the person whose name is next and so on. (I would have each child take the standing spot of the child that they have greeted.) Share: What would you wish for if a genie granted you one wish? Activity: BUZZ Count to 100 quickly...anytime you get to a number that ends in 5 (or any other number you want to designate) you will say "BUZZ" instead. Keep going until you get to 100.
Friday - 10/16 Greeting: Hey, "Name", The Weekend's Near - What you "gonna" do when it really gets here. Share: Let them browse through today's TFK or a TFK from previous days before coming to morning meeting. Share one important or cool fact they have learned from that or from school in general (watershed, water cycle, river, new vocabulary word, etc.) Activity: Secret Elf. One person is designated as the guesser and leavs the circle sitting with his/her back turned toward the circle. Chant: "Elf, Elf, there's an elf on my shelf". My elf is..." Students raise their hand and you silently choose someone. That student says, "It is I" in a disguised voice. The guesser then has 3 tries to guess who the elf was. The elf then becomes the guesser.
Monday - 10/5 G & S - What's the News? Activity - Shoes (good for descriptive words)-- "Old shoes, New shoes, _ has _ shoes. 1,2,3,4 - gently tap them on the floor.
Tues. - 10/6 Silent Greeting - 30 seconds or a minute of greeting each other silently. At teacher signal, they stop and sit back down. Share - Whole group share: "What would you do to entertain your family without spending any money?" Activity - Guess the Number. (This is good for place value, odd and even numbers for now -- "I'm thinking of a 2 digit number that has 4 more in the tens place and is an odd number, and when you add the digits together, you get 5.... Eventually, we can do 3 digit numbers, multiple of, factor of, prime number...
Wed - 10/7 G - Category greeting -- Everyone wit 0-1 siblings, come to the center to greet each other; Everyone with 2-3 siblings, etc... Share - What's your favorite room in the house and why? Activity - Broken telephone (I haven't played this yet this year and I had a request). If you don't want to do that, I was thinking of doing the science words game with overwintering words where we put the word on an index card and tape it to a volunteer's back. Then this person asks for clues and they have to guess the kind of overwintering.
Thurs. 10/8 Schoolwide meeting
Tues. 9/29 G-, S What's the news.
A- Zoom Children pass the "zoom" around the circle one at a time. The child who begins it turns to her neighbor and says "zoom". Once the zoom is "received", the next person turns and passes it on. If they catch onto this quickly, then introduce "eek". It stops the zoom and reverses its direction. Whenever "eek" is said by the receiving child, "zoom" stops, reverses direction, and head off the other way.
Wed/ 9/30 G- Snap, Clap Greeting. Establish a rhythm: clap, clap, snap (left hand) , snap (right hand). Once the rhythm is going and all the children have it, the teacher calls out her name of the first snap and the name of the next person on the second snap. The next child calls his name on the first snap and the next child's name on the second snap. This continues. S- What is one accomplishment you feel proud of? A- A What? Using an object, pass it around going clockwise saying "this is a (ex. dinosaur egg"). The student says "A What?" and the person says "A dinosaur egg". This continues around the circle. Using another object pass it counterclockwise saying "this is a (ex. golden ring)" The student says "A What?" then the passer says "a golden ring" Play continues until both objects are back where they started.
Thurs. 10/1 G - Virtual High Five S - What was a mistake you made? A - Coseeki/Follow the Leader. One player leaves the group and stand where she or he cannot see the group. The group chooses a leader who does a movement, such as tapping a toe, which the others follow. The leader changes the movement regularly and the others follow the leader's movement. The hidden player returns, stands int he middle of the circle, watches the movements, and tries to tguess who the leader is. Limit the guesses to 3.
Fri. 10/2 G- Pantomime Greeting. Each child pantomimes something about himself/herself (favorite activity, favorite food, favorite sport) others then greet the child and mimics the pantomime. The greetings are done by the whole class to each child. S - What is one thing you like to do when you are not in school? A Hands Up. Hands up (silent beats) For '09 (silent beats) Gonna' name (clap, clap) Some _ (clap, clap) (name a category-food, animals, states, nouns, etc.) One apiece (clap, clap) No repeats (clap, clap) No hesitation ( clap, clap) No duplication (clap, clap) Starting with (clap, clap) _ (fill in child's name and child says something that fits in the category.)
Tues. Sept 1 Ask students what they remember about last year's morning meeting. Have them practice walking to and sitting on the rug properly after the signal by you. Talk about the greeting and why we have it first in the our morning meeting. What does a good greeting look, sound like. Greeting: Simple good morning to the person next to them using good eye contact, smile and voice. Activity/Share: Choose something simple to share around the circle (favorite food, etc) Ask if someone can remember who liked pizza, etc. Can also add that question to next days morning message chart. Morning Message (review why we leave it for the end - to give an overview of the day, or transition in, etc)- read to them on day one.
Wed. Sept 2 Practice the signal and walking over to carpet again. Review greeting. Do same greeting with an added hand shake or wave. Talk and model how that should look. Activity (I am going to do Super Sleuth that day - I have a paper...find someone who has a dog or went to the beach, etc. Can use that if you would like.) Share: Simple round robin share again using something different (favorite outdoor activity) (Ask who remembers what about it.) Morning Message: Break up students into fall winter birthdays and spring summer birthdays to read it out loud together.
Thursday Sept 3 Practice the walk again. Review the greeting and chance up the hand gesture - a high five could be used today. Activity Just like me. Share: Round robin share with favorite book Morning Messages: Break up students by name A-M and N-Z to read it aloud.
Friday Sept 4. Practice the signal and walk again. Activity: (need...maybe a choral read - funny poem about school?) Share: Round robin with a twist. Have each student name their favorite and then have the student next to them repeat what their neighbor liked and then state what they like. Morning Messages: Possible choral/whole class read
Tues. Sept.8 Greeting: One minute greeting- Students mingle and say "Good Morning using the other student's first name. Emphasize the importance of standing still and making eye contact when greeting someone so the pace doesn't get frantic. They could keep count as to how many people they greet in one min. This can lead to a discussion of how we accept what another person says and honesty. Sharing: Have them think about their first week of school. What would be one thing that might make them a better learner this week? Put their thumb up when they have thought of something so sharing can begin. Group Activity: CAN YOU GUESS? Have a notecard on their desk and tell them to write facts such as "I love insects", "I am the oldest of 5 kids" They should be true facts about themselves and appropriate to share. They should not put their name on the card. Have them bring the cards to meeting and collect them. Shuffle them and pass them out to each student. If the student gets their card, they should give it back and be given another. Students take turns around the circle reading their cards and guessing which person belongs to the card. If the student is not identified, the writer raises his hand and says "that's me". At the end of the activity, ask students to reflect on any connections they made during the activity (maybe a student could see there were several students who were youngest in their families) Morning Message: The morning message may include the type of reflective connections made as how these connections are applied to books. Also include the President's address and what they have heard about this.
Wed Sept. 9 Greeting: Greet with an elbow shake. Sharing: Share one thing they did this past long weekend. Group Activity: If I were an animal I would be a/an ...... Morning Message:
Thurs. Sept 10 Greeting: Ball Toss Greeting - Have students stand up and toss a ball (etc) to a person, greeting them by name. After they toss the ball, sit down. Continue until all are greeted. Sharing: Share something they have learned about someone in the class. Group Activity: (pg 23 Activities and Greetings (I can copy this for you) Ali Baba: A leader is chosen. The leader begins the chant: Ali Baba and the forty thieves, Camels horses you and me!. This is said while making a simple motion. After saying the chant once, a different motion is done while saying the chant again.The person to the left picks up this motion This continues. Morning Message:
Fri. Sept 11 Greeting: "Skip Greeting" Everyone stands up. Decide how many you will skip. If you skip 4, greet the 5th person then take that place and sit down. This continues until all are greeted. Sharing: Share something they are wondering if they are nervous about or if they will improve. This is the time to let students know that this is a safe environment where we let everyone know what we need help with. Group Activity: Down By the Banks. I will copy this from 99 Activities and Greetings__. You will need to put the chant on a chart to help.
Morning Message: Sandy, You could start our sharing in the 3rd week about picking one topic and a detail or 2. The details must apply to the topic sentence. That could be the teaching point for the whole week.
Note: G- greeting, S-share, GA- group activity, m-message Mon. 9/14 G/S- Pass around Michele's "Good morning, what's the news?" - this is really a combination of greeting and share. So, I was planning to introduce "signing up for the share" this week -maybe 4-5 kids per day. The topic could be something they enjoyed over the weekend and today we could explain the sign-up process, the sharing format (one topic sentence and 2 details). I'm going to hang a class list on the chartpad & I'll have students sign up for tues-fri share. Another option is just to assign them ourselves, but by starting on Tues, everyone would have fair warning. A- Incorporation - Using a bell/chime or signal, the leader calls out a direction like, "Get into groups of 4 silently." As soon as they've incorporated, the leader gongs/rings/chimes again and calls another direction like, "Get into 3 groups - a red shirt group, a blue shirt group, and an other group..." Quick and silent are the objectives. message - Today I might talk about clean up and how we can do a better job. I might start with Good morning cooperative 4th graders...
Tues. 9/15 G- Snowball greeting - This is the one where you need to leave a 1/4 of a piece of paper on everyone's desk in the morning. They should write their name on it and crumple it up. When they come to the rug, they gently toss (this will need to be taught) into the center of the circle. Going around the circle, each student will pick up the snowball closest to them and greets that person. Then the next person goes. There's an add-on component where after the initial greeting the students re-toss the snowball they picked up back into the circle and then they pick one up again. This time, their job is to watch that person throughout the day and at the end of the day, they need to pay that person a compliment. (That sounds kind of nice and it would be fun if it was kept a secret all day.) S- 4-5 students share with one topic (basically could be what they shared yesterday about their weekend) and 2 details in 2 sentences.) A- Grandmothers Trunk - "I'm going on a trip and I need to pack my grandmother's trunk and I need to pack my...." Each person adds one thing and then the group has to remember everything that was said before them. message - I'm going to talk about what compliments look like in my message - sincere, goal is to compliment an action
Wed. 9/16 G- Different language greeting -I'm going to type up the greetings for the smartboard so we can put them up. We might have to copy it and put it in our own folder as we'll all want it open at the same time. S- same tues- fri. A- A warm Wind Blows. I'm going to have my students bring their chairs today. Let me know if you don't remember this one.
Thurs. 9/17 G- Ball toss S - same tues-fri A- Science vocabulary card game. Write up all of the vocab words on index cards and tape one to a student's back. I use popsicle sticks to choose a student. Student can pick 2 other students to give them clues about their word.
Fri. 9/18 G- "1,2,3,4 - come on _ hit the floor. We're so glad you're here today. Hurray. Hurray. Hurray." You should write this on chart paper so all can see. I'll model this with a subdued action, but you should suggest things like a wave, curtsy, bow, wiggle... Child comes out when name is called and goes back during the last line. S- Same tues-fri - everyone should have shared by today. A- Guess the number - Going around the circle, students have to ask a yes or no question. Each asks one. (Is it a 3 digit number? Is it an odd number?...) Students may pass according to the book. If the student is ready to guess at her turn, they can. If the guess is incorrect, the questionning continues. If the guess is correct, the teacher can choose another number. To encourage cooperation and eliminate competition, the student who guesses correctly does not get to choose the number. The idea is to ask yes/no questions and figure out as many numbers as possible in a given amount of time.
Mon 9/21 G - S - "What's the News" At the end you can ask the kids different things they remembered (or possibly allow questions this week - I may wait another week with my class) Again have them sign up this week to share. ( A special item or memory may be good or practicing with something they did on the weekend again.) A - "Directions Follies" Each person gets a strip of paper with a direction on it, such as, "after someone spins around two times, you will stand up and count to 100 by 5's." It goes in order until the last person finishes. I copied the papers for us and will cut out the strips so you each have a set for Monday. I loved this last year - we will see how it goes this year. They really have to listen and pay attention. You could also challenge them to do it within a certain time frame and do it a second time trying to beat your first time.
Tues 9/22 G- Category Greeting -Students stand in a circle. You call out a category and those kids move to the middle of the circle to greet each other. Once they are done they sit and don't go back in even if they fit into another category. I thought a simple one would be calling out each birthday season so 4 groups would greet one another. S - same tues- fri (again being sure they follow the main idea and two details - love that Sandy) A -On the same thought as the birthdays, they have to line up in birthday order quickly and in complete silence. Could time it. If talking have everyone sit back in the circle and start again.
Wed. 9/23 G - Calling All Friends - Students have to think of a word that describes themselves and also starts with the first letter of their first name...like Loudmouth Larry and Blabbermouth Bobby and Nonstop Nuisance Nancy and Talkative Todd (I'm kidding - I know I will have to erase that but thought you might like it.) More like Sensational Sandy and Dazzling Diane. Ask everyone to put their thumb up when they have a name. Go around the circle and each student will announce their name. Then the greeting starts and each person goes around and greets one another by their names. (The book says to have the student who is greeting say "Careful Carlos calling Merry Maria. Cood Morning Maria" And she replies, "Good Morning Careful Carlos." Then she starts out "calling" someone. I am just going to do it in the normal manner but you could do that if you would like. S- same Tues. - Fri. A - In search of a noun Students sit in a circle and one student leaves. The group decides on a noun (person, place, or thing). No proper nouns are used. When the student returns, he/she is told whether it is a person, place, or thing. The student tries to guess the secret word by sking three questions. Eah question should start with who,what, when, where, or why. For example, when might you use this? Who uses this thing? The student calls on someone that raises their hand. After heraing the answers, the student is allowed two guesses. If he/she is not corrct then he/she calls on another student to give the noun. Play could continue with a new guesser and a new noun.
Thurs. 9/24 G- Silent greeting Students have to come up with a silent gesture like tugging on their ear, scratching their head, etc. When everyone has their gesture, thumbs up. Everyone shares their gesture around the circle. To start off, I would make eye contact and wave at someone and then give their gesture. They would wave back giving me mine. (I know the gestures you are thinking!:)) Then they would make eye contact with someone else and continue. A sign will need to be established to show who has been greeted. S - same Tues - Fri A - Pedoodle - One student leaves the circle and the class decides on a verb, such as fly. When the student returns, he/she chooses three students to offer a sentence using the verb chosen by the class. However, classmates will use the word "peedoodle" in place of the verb when saying the sentence. After three clues, the student guesses. If he/she doesn't know someone else can say the answer. Play could continue with a new guesser and a new verb.
Fri. 9/25 G The Weekend is Near - Need to write out the chant on a chart. "Hello _, The weekend is near. What are you "gonna" do when it really gets here? (Just like we did on our last day of the workshop). "I'm going to read, sleep, play, etc." This is done along with a pantomine movement which the group repeats. At the end, try to go around the circle and repeat what each person said and pantomimed. S - same Tues. - Fri. A - Hot Potato like we did at the workshop. One group passes a ball around while I count to a specified number and yell, "hot potato". The person stuck with the ball joins me and says a number from 1 to 10. We count and yell, "hot potato" when we land on that number. Play continues until one person is left.
Tuesday - 10/13
G&S - What's the news?
Activity - "Ghost Spelling" The goal is to make words as a group - the longer the better. Each student contributes a letter to make a word. When a word is completed, write a letter from the word "ghost" on the board. When 5 words have been completed successfully, "ghost" should be spelled out on the board and the activity is complete.
Wednesday - 10/14
G - Knock, Knock Who's there?
Student 1: Knock Knock!
Student 2: Who's There?
Student 1: Name (Olivia)
Student 2: Name Who? (Olivia Who?)
Student 1: First and Last Name (Olivia Flynn)
Student 2: Good morning Olivia Flynn!
This continues around the circle until everyone has been greeted.
Share - What do you want to be when you grow up?
Activity - Silent line up - hand out index cards with math facts on the them (i.e. 8x6, 4x5, etc.). Have them line up in order from least to greatest or greatest to least without talking
Thursday - 10/15
Greeting: Who's Next: Before morning meeting have students write their name on an index card. Shuffle and place in the middle. Turn the first one over and have that child start the greeting. They will greet the person whose name is next and so on. (I would have each child take the standing spot of the child that they have greeted.)
Share: What would you wish for if a genie granted you one wish?
Activity: BUZZ Count to 100 quickly...anytime you get to a number that ends in 5 (or any other number you want to designate) you will say "BUZZ" instead. Keep going until you get to 100.
Friday - 10/16
Greeting: Hey, "Name", The Weekend's Near - What you "gonna" do when it really gets here.
Share: Let them browse through today's TFK or a TFK from previous days before coming to morning meeting. Share one important or cool fact they have learned from that or from school in general (watershed, water cycle, river, new vocabulary word, etc.)
Activity: Secret Elf. One person is designated as the guesser and leavs the circle sitting with his/her back turned toward the circle. Chant: "Elf, Elf, there's an elf on my shelf". My elf is..." Students raise their hand and you silently choose someone. That student says, "It is I" in a disguised voice. The guesser then has 3 tries to guess who the elf was. The elf then becomes the guesser.
Monday - 10/5
G & S - What's the News?
Activity - Shoes (good for descriptive words)-- "Old shoes, New shoes, _ has _ shoes. 1,2,3,4 - gently tap them on the floor.
Tues. - 10/6
Silent Greeting - 30 seconds or a minute of greeting each other silently. At teacher signal, they stop and sit back down.
Share - Whole group share: "What would you do to entertain your family without spending any money?"
Activity - Guess the Number. (This is good for place value, odd and even numbers for now -- "I'm thinking of a 2 digit number that has 4 more in the tens place and is an odd number, and when you add the digits together, you get 5.... Eventually, we can do 3 digit numbers, multiple of, factor of, prime number...
Wed - 10/7
G - Category greeting -- Everyone wit 0-1 siblings, come to the center to greet each other; Everyone with 2-3 siblings, etc...
Share - What's your favorite room in the house and why?
Activity - Broken telephone (I haven't played this yet this year and I had a request). If you don't want to do that, I was thinking of doing the science words game with overwintering words where we put the word on an index card and tape it to a volunteer's back. Then this person asks for clues and they have to guess the kind of overwintering.
Thurs. 10/8
Schoolwide meeting
Tues. 9/29
G-, S What's the news.
A- Zoom Children pass the "zoom" around the circle one at a time. The child who begins it turns to her neighbor and says "zoom". Once the zoom is "received", the next person turns and passes it on. If they catch onto this quickly, then introduce "eek". It stops the zoom and reverses its direction. Whenever "eek" is said by the receiving child, "zoom" stops, reverses direction, and head off the other way.
Wed/ 9/30
G- Snap, Clap Greeting. Establish a rhythm: clap, clap, snap (left hand) , snap (right hand). Once the rhythm is going and all the children have it, the teacher calls out her name of the first snap and the name of the next person on the second snap. The next child calls his name on the first snap and the next child's name on the second snap. This continues.
S- What is one accomplishment you feel proud of?
A- A What? Using an object, pass it around going clockwise saying "this is a (ex. dinosaur egg"). The student says "A What?" and the person says "A dinosaur egg". This continues around the circle. Using another object pass it counterclockwise saying "this is a (ex. golden ring)" The student says "A What?" then the passer says "a golden ring" Play continues until both objects are back where they started.
Thurs. 10/1
G - Virtual High Five
S - What was a mistake you made?
A - Coseeki/Follow the Leader. One player leaves the group and stand where she or he cannot see the group. The group chooses a leader who does a movement, such as tapping a toe, which the others follow. The leader changes the movement regularly and the others follow the leader's movement. The hidden player returns, stands int he middle of the circle, watches the movements, and tries to tguess who the leader is. Limit the guesses to 3.
Fri. 10/2
G- Pantomime Greeting. Each child pantomimes something about himself/herself (favorite activity, favorite food, favorite sport) others then greet the child and mimics the pantomime. The greetings are done by the whole class to each child.
S - What is one thing you like to do when you are not in school?
A Hands Up. Hands up (silent beats) For '09 (silent beats) Gonna' name (clap, clap) Some _ (clap, clap) (name a category-food, animals, states, nouns, etc.) One apiece (clap, clap) No repeats (clap, clap) No hesitation ( clap, clap) No duplication (clap, clap) Starting with (clap, clap) _ (fill in child's name and child says something that fits in the category.)
Tues. Sept 1 Ask students what they remember about last year's morning meeting. Have them practice walking to and sitting on the rug properly after the signal by you. Talk about the greeting and why we have it first in the our morning meeting. What does a good greeting look, sound like.
Greeting: Simple good morning to the person next to them using good eye contact, smile and voice.
Activity/Share: Choose something simple to share around the circle (favorite food, etc) Ask if someone can remember who liked pizza, etc. Can also add that question to next days morning message chart.
Morning Message (review why we leave it for the end - to give an overview of the day, or transition in, etc)- read to them on day one.
Wed. Sept 2 Practice the signal and walking over to carpet again. Review greeting. Do same greeting with an added hand shake or wave. Talk and model how that should look.
Activity (I am going to do Super Sleuth that day - I have a paper...find someone who has a dog or went to the beach, etc. Can use that if you would like.)
Share: Simple round robin share again using something different (favorite outdoor activity) (Ask who remembers what about it.)
Morning Message: Break up students into fall winter birthdays and spring summer birthdays to read it out loud together.
Thursday Sept 3 Practice the walk again. Review the greeting and chance up the hand gesture - a high five could be used today.
Activity Just like me.
Share: Round robin share with favorite book
Morning Messages: Break up students by name A-M and N-Z to read it aloud.
Friday Sept 4. Practice the signal and walk again.
Activity: (need...maybe a choral read - funny poem about school?)
Share: Round robin with a twist. Have each student name their favorite and then have the student next to them repeat what their neighbor liked and then state what they like.
Morning Messages: Possible choral/whole class read
Tues. Sept.8
Greeting: One minute greeting- Students mingle and say "Good Morning using the other student's first name. Emphasize the importance of standing still and making eye contact when greeting someone so the pace doesn't get frantic. They could keep count as to how many people they greet in one min. This can lead to a discussion of how we accept what another person says and honesty.
Sharing: Have them think about their first week of school. What would be one thing that might make them a better learner this week? Put their thumb up when they have thought of something so sharing can begin.
Group Activity: CAN YOU GUESS? Have a notecard on their desk and tell them to write facts such as "I love insects", "I am the oldest of 5 kids" They should be true facts about themselves and appropriate to share. They should not put their name on the card. Have them bring the cards to meeting and collect them. Shuffle them and pass them out to each student. If the student gets their card, they should give it back and be given another. Students take turns around the circle reading their cards and guessing which person belongs to the card. If the student is not identified, the writer raises his hand and says "that's me". At the end of the activity, ask students to reflect on any connections they made during the activity (maybe a student could see there were several students who were youngest in their families)
Morning Message: The morning message may include the type of reflective connections made as how these connections are applied to books. Also include the President's address and what they have heard about this.
Wed Sept. 9
Greeting: Greet with an elbow shake.
Sharing: Share one thing they did this past long weekend.
Group Activity: If I were an animal I would be a/an ......
Morning Message:
Thurs. Sept 10
Greeting: Ball Toss Greeting - Have students stand up and toss a ball (etc) to a person, greeting them by name. After they toss the ball, sit down. Continue until all are greeted.
Sharing: Share something they have learned about someone in the class.
Group Activity: (pg 23 Activities and Greetings (I can copy this for you) Ali Baba: A leader is chosen. The leader begins the chant: Ali Baba and the forty thieves, Camels horses you and me!. This is said while making a simple motion. After saying the chant once, a different motion is done while saying the chant again.The person to the left picks up this motion This continues.
Morning Message:
Fri. Sept 11
Greeting: "Skip Greeting" Everyone stands up. Decide how many you will skip. If you skip 4, greet the 5th person then take that place and sit down. This continues until all are greeted.
Sharing: Share something they are wondering if they are nervous about or if they will improve. This is the time to let students know that this is a safe environment where we let everyone know what we need help with.
Group Activity: Down By the Banks. I will copy this from 99 Activities and Greetings__. You will need to put the chant on a chart to help.
Morning Message:
Sandy, You could start our sharing in the 3rd week about picking one topic and a detail or 2. The details must apply to the topic sentence. That could be the teaching point for the whole week.
Note: G- greeting, S-share, GA- group activity, m-message
Mon. 9/14
G/S- Pass around Michele's "Good morning, what's the news?" - this is really a combination of greeting and share. So, I was planning to introduce "signing up for the share" this week -maybe 4-5 kids per day. The topic could be something they enjoyed over the weekend and today we could explain the sign-up process, the sharing format (one topic sentence and 2 details). I'm going to hang a class list on the chartpad & I'll have students sign up for tues-fri share. Another option is just to assign them ourselves, but by starting on Tues, everyone would have fair warning.
A- Incorporation - Using a bell/chime or signal, the leader calls out a direction like, "Get into groups of 4 silently." As soon as they've incorporated, the leader gongs/rings/chimes again and calls another direction like, "Get into 3 groups - a red shirt group, a blue shirt group, and an other group..." Quick and silent are the objectives.
message - Today I might talk about clean up and how we can do a better job. I might start with Good morning cooperative 4th graders...
Tues. 9/15
G- Snowball greeting - This is the one where you need to leave a 1/4 of a piece of paper on everyone's desk in the morning. They should write their name on it and crumple it up. When they come to the rug, they gently toss (this will need to be taught) into the center of the circle. Going around the circle, each student will pick up the snowball closest to them and greets that person. Then the next person goes. There's an add-on component where after the initial greeting the students re-toss the snowball they picked up back into the circle and then they pick one up again. This time, their job is to watch that person throughout the day and at the end of the day, they need to pay that person a compliment. (That sounds kind of nice and it would be fun if it was kept a secret all day.)
S- 4-5 students share with one topic (basically could be what they shared yesterday about their weekend) and 2 details in 2 sentences.)
A- Grandmothers Trunk - "I'm going on a trip and I need to pack my grandmother's trunk and I need to pack my...." Each person adds one thing and then the group has to remember everything that was said before them.
message - I'm going to talk about what compliments look like in my message - sincere, goal is to compliment an action
Wed. 9/16
G- Different language greeting -I'm going to type up the greetings for the smartboard so we can put them up. We might have to copy it and put it in our own folder as we'll all want it open at the same time.
S- same tues- fri.
A- A warm Wind Blows. I'm going to have my students bring their chairs today. Let me know if you don't remember this one.
Thurs. 9/17
G- Ball toss
S - same tues-fri
A- Science vocabulary card game. Write up all of the vocab words on index cards and tape one to a student's back. I use popsicle sticks to choose a student. Student can pick 2 other students to give them clues about their word.
Fri. 9/18
G- "1,2,3,4 - come on _ hit the floor. We're so glad you're here today. Hurray. Hurray. Hurray." You should write this on chart paper so all can see. I'll model this with a subdued action, but you should suggest things like a wave, curtsy, bow, wiggle... Child comes out when name is called and goes back during the last line.
S- Same tues-fri - everyone should have shared by today.
A- Guess the number - Going around the circle, students have to ask a yes or no question. Each asks one. (Is it a 3 digit number? Is it an odd number?...) Students may pass according to the book. If the student is ready to guess at her turn, they can. If the guess is incorrect, the questionning continues. If the guess is correct, the teacher can choose another number. To encourage cooperation and eliminate competition, the student who guesses correctly does not get to choose the number. The idea is to ask yes/no questions and figure out as many numbers as possible in a given amount of time.
Mon 9/21
G - S - "What's the News" At the end you can ask the kids different things they remembered (or possibly allow questions this week - I may wait another week with my class) Again have them sign up this week to share. ( A special item or memory may be good or practicing with something they did on the weekend again.)
A - "Directions Follies" Each person gets a strip of paper with a direction on it, such as, "after someone spins around two times, you will stand up and count to 100 by 5's." It goes in order until the last person finishes. I copied the papers for us and will cut out the strips so you each have a set for Monday. I loved this last year - we will see how it goes this year. They really have to listen and pay attention. You could also challenge them to do it within a certain time frame and do it a second time trying to beat your first time.
Tues 9/22
G- Category Greeting -Students stand in a circle. You call out a category and those kids move to the middle of the circle to greet each other. Once they are done they sit and don't go back in even if they fit into another category. I thought a simple one would be calling out each birthday season so 4 groups would greet one another.
S - same tues- fri (again being sure they follow the main idea and two details - love that Sandy)
A -On the same thought as the birthdays, they have to line up in birthday order quickly and in complete silence. Could time it. If talking have everyone sit back in the circle and start again.
Wed. 9/23
G - Calling All Friends - Students have to think of a word that describes themselves and also starts with the first letter of their first name...like Loudmouth Larry and Blabbermouth Bobby and Nonstop Nuisance Nancy and Talkative Todd (I'm kidding - I know I will have to erase that but thought you might like it.) More like Sensational Sandy and Dazzling Diane. Ask everyone to put their thumb up when they have a name. Go around the circle and each student will announce their name. Then the greeting starts and each person goes around and greets one another by their names. (The book says to have the student who is greeting say "Careful Carlos calling Merry Maria. Cood Morning Maria" And she replies, "Good Morning Careful Carlos." Then she starts out "calling" someone. I am just going to do it in the normal manner but you could do that if you would like.
S- same Tues. - Fri.
A - In search of a noun Students sit in a circle and one student leaves. The group decides on a noun (person, place, or thing). No proper nouns are used. When the student returns, he/she is told whether it is a person, place, or thing. The student tries to guess the secret word by sking three questions. Eah question should start with who,what, when, where, or why. For example, when might you use this? Who uses this thing? The student calls on someone that raises their hand. After heraing the answers, the student is allowed two guesses. If he/she is not corrct then he/she calls on another student to give the noun. Play could continue with a new guesser and a new noun.
Thurs. 9/24
G- Silent greeting Students have to come up with a silent gesture like tugging on their ear, scratching their head, etc. When everyone has their gesture, thumbs up. Everyone shares their gesture around the circle. To start off, I would make eye contact and wave at someone and then give their gesture. They would wave back giving me mine. (I know the gestures you are thinking!:)) Then they would make eye contact with someone else and continue. A sign will need to be established to show who has been greeted.
S - same Tues - Fri
A - Pedoodle - One student leaves the circle and the class decides on a verb, such as fly. When the student returns, he/she chooses three students to offer a sentence using the verb chosen by the class. However, classmates will use the word "peedoodle" in place of the verb when saying the sentence. After three clues, the student guesses. If he/she doesn't know someone else can say the answer. Play could continue with a new guesser and a new verb.
Fri. 9/25
G The Weekend is Near - Need to write out the chant on a chart. "Hello _, The weekend is near. What are you "gonna" do when it really gets here? (Just like we did on our last day of the workshop). "I'm going to read, sleep, play, etc." This is done along with a pantomine movement which the group repeats. At the end, try to go around the circle and repeat what each person said and pantomimed.
S - same Tues. - Fri.
A - Hot Potato like we did at the workshop. One group passes a ball around while I count to a specified number and yell, "hot potato". The person stuck with the ball joins me and says a number from 1 to 10. We count and yell, "hot potato" when we land on that number. Play continues until one person is left.